Under a Project named as ' La Laguna para Todos' the City Council and Tourist Board of La Laguna are offering visitors with visual and/or mobility impairments, the chance to get to know and enjoy the historical quarter of the city, which has been declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

San Cristóbal de la Laguna was founded in 1497: the last town to be established in the Canary Islands (which was the first Spanish overseas territory) takes its name from a shallow lake or marshy area (La Laguna), which was not drained until 1837. It was the first non-fortified Spanish colonial town, and its layout provided the model for many colonial towns in the Americas.

The historic ensemble of La Laguna has outstanding universal value as an urban design. It is an historic ensemble which represents the concept of the "townterritory" as the first example of an unfortified town laid out and built according to a complete plan based on navigation; the formal image of this structure corresponds with a constellation of points which marks the special positions of the urban plan and the relationships between certain of them and the whole so as to produce a symbolic structure which should be interpreted in a manner similar to that of the marine charts of the period or the celestial constellations. The city has maintained its highly valued historic centre in an exemplary state of conservation. 

The two routes/guided walking tours available are:

' La Laguna del ayer', designed having in mind visitors with reduced mobility and/or wheelchair users. This tour takes no more than one and a half hour offering two choices: one is starting at the Casa de los Capitanes (where the Tourist Information Point is located) and there are benches along the pedestrian streets, if someone needed to have a break; the terrain is flat and easy (some streets are cobblestone paved).

" La Laguna de las percepciones": is designed thinking of the blind and/or visually impaired. Starting/meeting point is at the Casa de los Capitanes (where the Tourist Information Point is located) and architectural items will be learnt through tact.

The staff (tourist guides) leading these tours has been trained in order to let participants make their best of the visit.

Punto de Información y Atención Turística
Casa de los Capitanes
C/ Carrera, nº 7
38201 La Laguna
Tenerife
Tel: +34 922 631 194
www.aytolalaguna.com

 

Rebecca Arce